'Til Death Do Us Part (21 page)

T
hen it was quiet as the rest of the gang discovered the ruse. The bikes throttled down from their surge to an idle. The bike that had gone past was now slowly coming back.
The
roadway was settling and the carnage was
visible to all. The man who h
it the tree was twisted with his legs bent
backwards and up over his head;
the world
’
s most flexible gymnast could not have struck that pose.

“
Ah
fuck, Teets and Dogger are dead,
”
o
ne of the men said.

“
Come and get me.
”
The one that had wrecked yelled.
“
My arm and my leg are busted.
”

One of the trailing men got off his bike.

“
Don
’
t!
”
t
he man up ahead yelled.
“
It
’
s a trap.
”

“
Fuck man it
’
s Deuce. I
’
ve got to get him,
”
The
first
man replied.

“
Give me your rifle,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said softly to Gary. The words
were barely
out of her mouth when she grabbed it from him.

“
What are you doing?
”
h
e asked as he handed it the rest of the way over.

“
I
’
m giving Deuce
’
s friend a little incentive,
”
s
he said as she fired a
round off that caught the fallen
man in his broken arm.

“
Oh fuck!
”
h
e screamed. He was writhing in agony, the intense pain from his shattered elbow all he could think about.
“
Help me!
”
h
e screamed again.
“
Get me out of here!
”

“
Q-ball, I
’
ve
got to get him, we go way back,
”
t
he man on the left said.

“
Come on, come on,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
whispered
as she kept her eye to the rifle
’
s aperture.

“
You sure are one cold bitch,
”
BT said as he came up alongside her.

“
The
Viet Cong were famous for this,
”
Deneaux replied.

“
What is she talking about?
”
Gary asked.

“
The Viet Cong would wound a soldier and lay in wait until other soldiers would try
to
rescue him, then they
’
d kill them all,
”
BT
explained.
“
It
was some pretty sick shit.
”

“
That
’
s what
’
s going on here?
”
Gary asked incredulously.

“
Mike
understood the value of a well-placed ambush,
”
Deneaux said.

“
Not like this,
”
BT said.

“
Really?
”
s
he asked finally looking up at BT long enough to arch an eyebrow.
“
Michael knew the aspect of our fair advantage.
”

“
This is murder,
”
BT said.

“
How are you so dense?
”
s
he asked.
“
It is our survival or it is theirs, by any means necessary.
”

“
She
’
s right
, BT,
”
Gary
added
.
“
Mike understood that. Ther
e
are
more than just zombies now. I
t is a struggle of good versus evil. The zombies have just marked the lines of delineation. Instead of scouring the earth of the scourge of humanity, those same lowlifes have risen to the top and are taking over. While the good people stay hidden protecting themselves and their own, these assholes take w
hatever they want and destroy
whoever they want.
”

“
That man is defenseless.
”
BT
pointed
to the wailing figure on the roadway.

“
And if he wasn
’
t?
”
Gary challenged.

“
That
’
s not the point!
”
BT said
,
letting anger begin to inflect his voice.
“
He
’
s a human being and we
’
re treating him like a zombie.
”

“
You mean like this?
”
Deneaux asked as she drilled the man
’
s forehead with a shot. His head snapped back and his crying ceased.

“
Q-ball they killed Deuce!
”
t
he distraught man yelled.

“
How would I have missed that
,
Digger?
”
Q-Ball yelled.
“
We didn
’
t want to hurt you,
”
he added
.

Deneaux
started laughing in response.
“
Neither did we.
”

“
You
’
ve killed six of my men, this isn
’
t over!
”

“
It could be,
”
Deneaux
said.
“
Just
step into the clearing.
”

“
Yo
,
bitch
,
what is your problem?
”
Digger yelled.
“
That was my friend.
”

“
Well now I gave you a reason to pour some of your forty ounce beer on the ground. Isn
’
t that what you do? Kind of as a homage?
”
Deneaux
cackled.

“
I
’
ll fucking kill you!
”
Digger screamed as he began to run to the clearing
,
his rifle chattering from the multiple rounds he was expending.

BT shot him before
Deneaux
had an opportunity. The bullets had come dangerously close to their location.

“
And then there were two
little
Indians,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said cheerily.

“
Fuck you all!
”
Q-ball said as he hopped on his bike and headed down the dirt path. It was moments later and the last remaining man got on his bike and headed back the way they had come.

“
Well that was fun,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said as she began to brush broken bit
s
of glass from her hair.

B
T was still at a loss for words.
Gary was approaching the dead men.

“
What are you doing?
”
BT asked him.

Gary bent over and grabbed the assault weapon.

“
Oh,
”
BT said as he came over,
“
any ammo?
”

“
Check the bikes. A
t least one of them had saddle bags.
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
reloaded her pistol and Gary
’
s rifle.
“
We
’
ve got a problem.
”

“
Huh?
”
BT asked.

Gary was opening the bike
’
s bags.
“
Damn, looks like a brass factory in here!
”

Mrs. Deneaux pointed to the ground where a spreading pool of liquid was emptying from the bottom of the Pinto.

“
Shit,
”
BT said as he ran back to the car.

Mrs.
Deneaux
was going over to Gary.
“
Help me lift this bike,
”
she said to him. Him helping
turned out to be him lifting it.

Mrs.
Deneaux
straddled the machine;
she held the clutch in and pushed down on the starter. The bike stuttered and died, she pushed again the bike started up. She got off and started to inspect the front end.
“
It should be fine,
”
s
he told Gary.

“
Fine for what?
”
h
e asked her.

“
For you or BT.
I
’
m taking Digger
’
s motorcycle,
”
s
he replied.

“
Taking it where?
”
Gary asked
,
obviously still confused.

“
The Pinto is dead, so unless you want to walk
,
this is our option.
”

“
I don
’
t
know how to drive a motorcycle,
”
Gary replied in alarm.

“
First off, one does not
‘
drive
’
a bike, they
‘
ride
’
it, and you
’
d better hope BT can
,
then.
”

“
You
’
d really leave us then?
”
BT asked as he came over.

She didn
’
t reply as she went over to Digger
’
s bike and gave it the once over.

“
And you do?
”
BT asked in reference to her knowing how to ride a bike.

“
I belonged to a m
otorcycl
e club back in the late sixties,
”
s
he said with a smile.

“
Of course you did,
”
BT responded.
“
This bike has some front end damage.
”

“
It
’
ll be fine, it
’
s just going to be a bumpy ride for you is all.
”

“
You know how to ride then?
”
Gary asked
BT
hopefully.

“
I
’
ve had experience, I
’
m not great.
With
my size and the damage to the front end you should ride with
Deneaux
.
”

“
Fantastic!
”
s
he cackled.
“
You will be my bitch!
”

The
y
grabbed their meager supplies out of the Pinto and stuffed every available pocket and saddle bag with it and started off. Gary was reluctant to wrap his arms around Deneaux
,
but when she started and he almost pitched off he thought better of his hesitation.
Deneaux
was laughing madly as they started for the road.
BT was cautious on the rough dirt road and was already a few miles behind
Deneaux
as she was screaming down the highway.